Joy..........a suggestion for you......go ahead and use those stackers this summer. A stack located in a shady or dappled shade location is an ideal seed starter. Sprinkle seeds in each grow site on the stack......a four pot stack would give you 24 plant sites and you can plant about 10 seeds per site...........ergo!!! 240 new plants to play with. Mist the stack manually a couple times a day to insure the top of the grow mix at each site stays moist enough for good germination. The stacks are ideal seed starters and I have never had any damping off problems............yet. About a month before the last frost, you can even wrap the stack with plastic while starting seeds..................... now you have a miniature green house Cut small slits in the plastic for air circulation and locate the stack where direct sun never hits it when using it for propagation. And for something spectacular, set up a stack and plant a sunflower in each site (or maybe every other site and a low growing flower in the other sites). Sunflowers will flower in about 60 days and you can enjoy them this summer while you are waiting for strawberry time later in the year. Use sunflowers that only get about four feet tall.
This message was edited May 10, 2011 3:05 PM
Self watering containers or automatic watering.
Jaywacker: can't answer your question about whether it's too late to plant potatoes, but I can vouch for the durability of Smart Pots. I have some that are going on their 4th season, and still look almost new. No apparent degradation of the material over that time. I leave mine out all winter, just covered in a plastic bag so their not sitting buried in ice/snow.
Just my 2cents on the debate of AWS vs. self-watering containers. I think both have their place, and I personally employ both methods. Since I do a good deal of container gardening, watering is the biggest chore to keep up with every summer. It can take me approx. an hour each and every day to keep everything watered by hand. I use self-watering containers (including EBs with the AWS) and a self-designed drip system on timers with my other containers (including smart pots). Last summer, I reduced my watering time to less than 10 minutes/day. And, the watering was much more consistant than anything I could do on my own.
Both system were expensive to start, but if I get several years use out of them, I consider it to be fairly reasonable. Also need to factor in the improved yield that I may get from such systems.
Guess we just need to experiment with what works well for our individual circumstance.
I've enjoyed reading both sides of the debate!
Mom2 goldens: I use different kinds myself, as I need the drip for the EBs and e buckets; but will be using the sprinkler kind on my 3 tiered gardens. I am glad thou; as I used my hose with the jet on to hit the bottoms of all leaves tonight as I saw a few spider mites and wanted to jet them off the bottom of leaves, something I wouldn't have had time for if I had of been hand watering all the containers I have.
joy